Mexico: the press under threat

March 27, 2019| SPORTSCARDBLOGS| 0 Comment

This article is
published as part of the partnership between Nueva Sociedad and
DemocraciaAbierta. You can read
the original article
here.

In a structural situation where greater restrictions
on freedom of expression can be seen
in daily life, the journalistic profession in Mexico is right now going through
its most sordid time. Given various phenomena in recent times, it can be said
that journalism is immersed in the following phenomena:

–
Co-optation,
harassment and direct violence perpetrated by public officials and gangs
(almost always associated with each other);

–
Job
insecurity caused by a news industry dependent not on its audiences but on
public money, and whose editorial policies expose journalists to risks of
violence and political and economic manipulation;

–
Ideological,
political or pragmatic subjugation to officials or to powers that be, whose
information is processed and published industrially without specific
deontological standards;

–
An
accelerated loss of reputation in society (not always undeserved).

The journalistic profession in Mexico is right now going through its most sordid time.

All these factors, which inhibit the practice and flourishing of
specialist journalism, constitute a set of direct or indirect symptoms of what,
in analysing the Latin American media, Ibero-American University of Mexico City
theorist Manuel Alejandro Guerrero calls, with enviable precision. the 'captured liberal media system'. In this system, "clientelism inserts [the media] directly into
the political process by allowing its owners to associate with particular political
groups, to use their own organisations to intervene in politics … and to use
their relationships to reduce or avoid the inconvenient effects of regulation.
In addition, clientelism contributes to hampering the development of
professional information practices. "

On the subject of widespread violence against journalists in the country
(dating to about 2000), he wrote just a decade ago: "In the period between 2000 and August 2007, 38 colleagues died
violently or suffered forced disappearance. Of these, 33 succumbed to shots or
stabbing, were poisoned, ran over, burned or disappeared.

At the end of last April, in a thorough and
useful summary, Azam Ahmed
pointed out from The New York Times that "Mexico is one of the
worst countries in the world to be a journalist today. At least 104 journalists
have been killed in this country since 2000, while 25 others have disappeared,
presumably killed. In the list of the deadliest places in the world to be a
reporter, Mexico falls between the war-ravaged nation of Afghanistan and the
failed state of Somalia. Last year, 11 Mexican journalists were killed, the
country's highest figure this century. "

In the period between 2000 and August 2007, 38 colleagues died violently or suffered forced disappearance.

Although it is not just a matter of increasingly sinister figures,
rankings denoting the rampant devastation, or predictable and chilling
narratives of blood, silence, pain, and death, the above clearly reflects this
complex atmosphere in which certain groups of political, public, economic and
criminal powers prevent the public's right to information, leaving investigative journalists defenceless. As an
example, it can be mentioned that since the beginning of the last decade,
violence against proponents of investigative journalism has grown exponentially
throughout the country – which contrasts with its truly limited resonance
within society.

Dozens of cases include investigative reporters Alfredo Jiménez Mota
(kidnapping, enforced disappearance and murder), Rafael Ortiz Martínez (forced
disappearance), Francisco Javier Ortiz Franco (murder), Lydia Cacho (threats,
arbitrary detention and relentless harassment) , Alejandro Martínez (murder),
Ana Lilia Pérez (threats, harassment and intimidation), Anabel Hernández
(threats and intimidation) and the most recent of Miroslava Breach (murder), as
well as the partial silencing of the prestigious Journalist Carmen Aristegui
and her team (indefinite cancellation of their news program on MVS Radio, after
the sacking of their journalists), following President Enrique
Peña Nieto's White House revelation.

Since the beginning of the last decade, violence against proponents of investigative journalism has grown exponentially throughout the country.

Now, has all this decimated journalists' professional momentum in their
investigation of cases of corruption, abuse of authority and violation of human
rights? Does it prevent investigative journalism in Mexico? Fortunately not. Or
at least not in the whole country. Given the painful panorama, this is great
news.

However, there are identifiable phenomena worthy of attention in order
to sketch a truthful panorama and seek solutions at the root:

Never in its history has Mexico had the number of
excellent investigative journalists it does today. However, this
speciality is absolutely removed from the traditional news media. The bulk
of the best in-depth journalistic stories – I do not mean leaks,
curatorial content or on-trend hits – can be found mostly in book, video
or digital media format, created by freelancers.
Most news organisations' extreme and toxic
financial dependence on the public treasury – Fundar has
documented it in an incontrovertible fashion –
hinders independent and truthful journalism, and even more so for
investigation.
More and more media and journalists are co-opted
by powers that be (politicians, high-level civil servants, business groups
or criminal organisations). This, combined with extreme violence, produces
a paralysis of journalism in general – and even more so for specialist
journalism.
In broad segments of the journalistic sector
there is a denial of the state of affairs. Many do not appreciate that we,
the journalists, have also contributed to our falling reputation within
society and predictable anger expressed to the press through social
networks.
A relevant problem is the precarious tendency
towards specialisation, justified by reductive and petty expressions. In
newsrooms, one often hears phrases like the following: "Why would I
train, if in Mexico there is no freedom of expression", "I work
in the media, and those above me decide, not me", "The people
don't want anything more than crime reporting"," If the
authorities say so, it's their responsibility and not mine that it's
published","Journalism is a trade, not a profession, and that's
why it's learned on the streets, not at university", "That guy
was killed because he was involved" or "Human rights are like a
fashion, you have to publish everything, whatever it is, so people get
it".

Although the Mexican journalistic panorama shows a generalised degree of
political, economic and ideological manipulation, and sufficient risks of
violence to destabilise the democratic order itself, it also shows
unquestionable expressions of persistence – sometimes even obstinacy – quality
and professional ethics which leave us with important lessons. One of them is
that most of these expressions of socially responsible journalism are possible
thanks to concerted citizen action through civil society organisations,
cooperation and international organisations.

We should not ignore this moral: when the State not only disregards its
responsibility to guarantee freedom of expression and the right to information,
but is also unable to face the impunity that affects the exercise of these
human rights and news companies obsess about profitability, there are those who
consider more than ever that it is their responsibility to sustain and
encourage good journalism, giving journalists the possibilities and skills to
use it time and again when faced with (almost) anything.